Italian Studies

Interdisciplinary Major in Italian Studies

The Italian Studies major requires 9 four-credit courses for a total of 36 semester credit hours. The major is comprised of 24 semester credit hours in Core Courses with an ITA designation and 12 semester credit hours in Elective Courses. Students must also complete a Capstone Project designed to integrate their studies. This project will be done in connection with the last Italian culture course that students take in the program. Contact the Italian professor if you have any questions about becoming an Italian Studies major.

Requirements for the Italian Studies Major

Core Courses: 24 credits in Italian Language and Culture; at least one course must be at the 3000 level or above.

Italian Language – Students must take two Italian language courses (8 credits total) at the intermediate level or beyond. Students will be placed in the appropriate level. The Introductory Italian sequence (ITA 1110 and ITA 1120) will not be counted as part of the major. Only the following courses may be used to fulfill the language requirement in the major:
ITA 2010 Intermediate Italian I
ITA 2020 Intermediate Italian II
ITA 3010 Composition & Culture
ITA 3020 Conversation & Culture
ITA 3050 Attualità Italiana

Italian Culture – Students must take 4 Italian Culture courses (16 credits) chosen from among the following. Courses in the Italian Culture category are drawn from a group of ITA courses which share a common focus on Italian cultural topics and texts. In keeping with common practice among Italian Studies programs, some Italian Culture courses are offered in Italian and some are offered in English:
ITA 2530 Italian Women Writers
ITA 2570/2580 Italian Culture through Film I and II
ITA 2550 Italian Americans and Film
ITA 2560(W) The Italian Southern Question in Literature and Film
ITA 3010 Composition & Culture
ITA 3020 Conversation & Culture
ITA 3050 Attualità Italiana (formerly ITA 2510)
ITA 4900 Directed Study

Three elective courses. Refer to the catalog for listing.

Interdisciplinary Minor in Italian Studies

An interdisciplinary minor in Italian Studies requires a minimum of 18 credits consisting of a minimum of 5 courses. The minor consists of one year of the Italian language (for example, ITA 1110 and ITA 1120), plus a combination of 3 language and/or culture courses.

Minor in Italian

A minor in a world language Italian requires a minimum of 18 credits consisting of a minimum of 5 courses. At least half of the coursework must be taken at Merrimack College. Only one ITA course taught in English may count towards the minor in Italian.